Christmas time and goodbyes...

Well, its Christmas time in Heidelberg--my absolutely FAVORITE time/place ever! It has been the most amazing past few weeks here! We had thanksgiving dinner at our restaurant...and life has just flown by since there! Some of my favorite things I've done since Thanksgiving are:

1. The last trip of the semester to Interlaken, not to jump out of an airplane this time though. We went bowling one night and then the next day we went EXTREME sledding in the alps! It was so foggy that we couldn't tell the difference between the sky and snow, we made it off the slopes regularly, it was AWESOME! We got soaking wet in the snow, and so we combined our dry clothes and I ended up in a tobagon with a flower, a sweatshirt, and one of the guys basketball shorts, tall socks, and my tennys. I was called Lebron James the whole trip back haha.

2. Decorating the christmas tree! We all gathered in our reception room (where we have church) and played christmas music, took pictures, and decorated our HUGE live tree that was cut down personally by one of our professors husbands right outside of heidelberg!

3. We hada christmas banquet at a really nice hotel. We ate goose and dumplings! Then we had a party back at the house where we had a visit from St. Nicolaus! We exchanged gifts with our secret santas, and then we went and hung out at the castle.

4. The MOST amazing part of all of this is the CHRISTMAS MARKET! All of Heidelberg is decorated with lights and christmas trees. The christmas markets are found in all of the main squares of the altstadt, and when you stand in them you feel like your at the North pole or something! It smells of christmas, theres chirstmas music, and everyone is standing around eating a bratwurst of sipping on gluhwein. Its the best feeling ever!

5. We had an amazing last weekend of hanging out, going to the Christmas market, and saturday night 42 of us went to Karaoke! It was so fun--quite the bonding experience!

It has been absolutely the most amazing past few weeks ever! We've had some hard times, people are getting tense just with finals and anxiety for home. But luckily we've gotten past it enough to enjoy our last few days here, and we're excited to reunite after the break. We have all bonded so much, and although I'm SO excited to come back to America (and go watch the eagles play some football on saturday!) I am getting really sad to leave my family here! Being away from each other for a weekend is hard enough, but a whole month! I have spent every minute of everyday with these kids, which is definitely enough of a reason to need a break, but I'm still going to miss everyone.

But anyways, I'm so ready to land tomorrow at 2:30 pm...see my family...eat at La Madeline...and go shopping for new jeans because all of mine have worn holes....i pretty much am at the point of looking homeless and I'm in need for some american shopping! I leave tomorrow morning at 6:15 for Frankfurt, and then my flight leaves at 10:30 am (which is really 3:30 am in america)....and Lord willing, 11 1/2 hours later I'll be HOME! See you all very soon!

MORE PICTURES from 14,000 feet:)

This is right before I jumped, AH! The wind was insane...this is why i look like an inflated ballooon, i haven't had THAT much bread!

I don't remember having this horrified look on my face, I promise its just out of shock!

SKYDIVING IN THE ALPS!

WE'RE ABOUT TO FLY THROUGH THE AIR..LIKE THIS!

These were the girls I jumped with!
The whole group!

Well, this was probably the best weekend of my life! I, Kasey Musgrave--little miss play it safe, scared of glass elevators, rollercoasters, heights in general, JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE AT 14,000 FEET! AH! okay, I'll rewind a little bit.

Wednesday night, one of our guy frinds, Zach, came in to try to convince Austin to go with them, and somehow I got into the picture because I said once that it would be amazing. So then he tried to get both of us to go, and being the people pleaser I am...i finally said yes! (picture me laying in bed under my blanket shaking terribly out of fright of what I had just commited myself to!) I had said at one point that it would be amazing to do this because I would watch our friend's videos...but yeah right! Like I would ever do it! And don't worry, it was not out of people pleasing that I said yes, I was totally committed to proving to myself that I could, and I know I would regret it if I never did it. So as we ran to tell our friend Natalie we were going with them I continued shaking...for a good hour! I was the source of entertainment for my friends because as we watched everyone else's skydiving dvd's I sat there curled up. shaking. haha It was quite a sight I'm sure.

Moving on, the next day consisted of me calling dad and telling him, getting permission, and making sure my very worrisome mother didn't find out until AFTER I jumped and was safe! Some people saw my secret as a horrible thing to put my dad through, but if you know my mom...we new what we were doing!

Okay, so finally Saturday came! Our group of 6 woke up and left for the GORGEOUS Interlaken, Switzerland. After a 4 1/2 hour train ride we had arrived! I tried to eat a blueberry muffin, but that didnt' go over so well...so I decided to keep the food to a minimum for the sake of my stomach! We ate a little bit of pasta just to keep us from getting hunger pains, and then we were picked up my Skydive Switzerland and transported to the air strip. I was super nervous, but at the same time I knew there was no turning back..that was actually never even a thought in my mind even with nerves! Everything happened really quickly once we arrived at the hanger. There was a group of about 20 of us tandem jumping, and we went through about a 5 minute breifing on what to do! Thats all! haha thank goodness we didn't have too much responsibility! We split up into groups of 3 because that's all that can fit in the plane. The other half of our group was first, and they were probably up in the air about 30 minutes after we got there! CRAZY! So they went up, jumped, landed, and loved it! At this time I wasn't nervous at all! I was SOO ready to do it! My group had to wait about 2 hours before we could jump, but I never really got too nervous!

FINALLY, it was our turn! We got strapped in our harnesses very quickly, and took off to the plane! Oh! did i mention...Interlaken Switzerland was covered in SNOW!!!! EVERYWHERE! They said this was the best day to jump in a long time, and the snow had only been there for 3 days! It was incredible from the ground...I couldn't wait to see it from above! So, we trek across the landing strip of SNOW to our plane. The propellers were going: It was so loud and windy as we all piled in. The jumper I was going to be attatched to said that we were last in first out! So we climbed in last...my spot on the ground was parallel with the sliding door. I don't know how we all fit in this tiny space, but we scrunched in! It took us about 15 minutes to make it up to 14000 feet. Finally, we were there! My jumper explained that he would open the door, look out, then open it completely, then the camera guy would jump out onto the wing, and I would slide around and hang my feet over...I would get in position, and then one, two, three, JUMP!

So door opens, and all goes as planned. I completely got FREAKED OUT when the door opened and we hovered over NOTHING! I was soo scared, but the fact that I couldn't do anything about it helped me just say WHATEVER LETS DO IT! I am sitting with my head back, arms on my straps, arched back, and he yells HERE, WE, GO! and on go we fall foward! (crazy thing is i've lost my stomach about 3 times just whie typing this!) I screamed as we flipped out, and honestly I don't remember what happened until I reached a stabilized position of free-falling on my stomach! As soon as I saw land I was perfectly fine! It's the hardest feeling to describe: I lost my stomach a little bit jumping, but from then on it just felt so natural! It was INCREDIBLE!

We free-fell for 41 seconds, and then he pulled the chutte. Apparently that pulls you up incredibly fast, but after some major jerks you just feel like your sitting still in the air. It was crazy! I felt a little light-headed at this point, but it went away very quickly..what a rush! We did spirals down which did more for my stomach than even jumping out of the plane! The view was UNBELEIVABLE! Everything was snow-covered, the sun was out, no clouds! It was perfect! It was actually FREEEZING, but it never bothered me at all...who can complain about freezing wind when your falling from a plane? Not me! Then he tapped my shoulder and i raised my legs into a pike position as we landed. This consisted of going like straight down towards the ground and sliding into the foot of SNOW! It was CRAZY! We were all going crazy hugging and screaming! It was seriously the BEST experience of my life...so rewarding!

So, now I can say I've been skydiving over the Swiss Alps! I have thought about it all day today, and wish I could do it again! I can't wait to get my DVD so I can see myself doing it, because I still can't beleive it! One of my friends who did it a few weeks ago watches his dvd at least once a day! This was definitely one of those life-changing, defining moments in my life. I'm so thankful that all went well. Our group was so amazing! On the train ride that morning we read some scriptures just to ensure us that we were going to be okay! It was so nice to experience God's beauty with 5 other people who are as enthralled as you! I'm so thankful for a safe day!

Well, all is well. Mother knows and continuously thanks me for not telling her! It was seriously the BEST day EVER! I'm still in shock, and it makes me SO happy to just think about it! Just as everyone said, it has definitely changed my outlook on things. I mean afterall, jumping out of a plane puts other fears into perspective. So basically, I LOVED IT! YAY for skydiving!

sorry this was so long, and i'm sorry to those of yall who read this and then have to hear it all again from me in a few weeks...i'm pretty sure it'll still be all I can talk about:)

have a blessed day!

...gonna find out who's naughty and nicee!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Naughty and Nice trying to pull apart Gaston and Belle.
All us Pi Phis!

Yesterday was Halloween, and we sure did it up big here at Heidelberg! Germany doesn't really celebrate halloween, so we were very limited on costumes. So, being the creative students we are we all came up with some very unique costumes. The 2 hours before dinner everyone was going NUTS running around raiding closets, drawing mustaches on boys, and curling hair.

Austin and I become REALL creative and decided to take a metaphorical route for our costume. We decided to be 'naughty' and 'nice'...from the santa clause song of course. Nobody beleived that we could pull it off...ohh but we did. We all met for dinner at this restaurant at the castle, and we came a little late and everyone died laughing when they saw us. They were very impressed.

Other costumes included: love, hate, babies, angel, devil, christmas tree, sigmund frued, guys dressing up as some girls here in short running shorts--sorority sweatshirts--headbands--and the girls sunglasses, lindsey lohan (she looked exactly like her!), gaston and belle from beauty and the beast, randal from the kids show recess, and the most creative....the IPOD shadow man! you know, the black shadow in all the commercials that dances around with his white ipod. They painted him black except for the apple sign on his cheek...it was amazing!

Our evening consisted of dinner at this amazing restaurant (chicken breast with lemon sauce...amazing!). Everyone was in costume--it was a blast! Then we cleared the middle of the room and had a dance party! We danced straight for about 2 hours to a huge variety of music. We all decided that it was the best halloween party we'd ever been too. Then we came back to the haus and a few of us started watching The Gaurdian, but then we got tired and went to sleep.

All in all it was a GREAT first holiday here in Heidelberg. Tonight Austin and I pushed our beds together, and are decorating our little 'nook'. Its really exciting! But I have to go now, I'm being summoned to jump on our new big bed!

54 days and still loving every minute!

Well well well...I'm ashamed to say that I am a horrible blogger. I will really try hard to be better, promise! Okay, where to start. Well since I last blogged I have been to Cinque Terre, Venice, Vienna, and Prague! (Can that get me off the hook for not blogging?!) I'll try to give a quick update on each place...

Cinque Terre is a combination of 5 coastal towns...each made up of mediterranean colored buildings with clothes hanging on clothes lines outside every window. This is one of the most beautiful places I've been! Our group consisted of 4 heidelbergers and we met up with 2 friends from florence! Out of the 5 cities (Monterosso, Vernazza, Manarola, Corniglia, and Riomaggiore) my favorite was Vernazza. This is the first town we hiked to (this is no little hike..it took us 2 1/2 hours of mostly uphill...who would have thought our Mediterranean vaca would involve lots of sweat?). Cinque Terre is in the region of Italy where Pesto was created...so of course every meal almost consisted of either pesto pasta or pesto pizza..it was to die for! I also had my first glass of wine here. It was white...I practically had to force it down...I'll update you on my wine drinking when we get to venice! We also got to SWIM in the Mediterranean Sea! Pretty monumental! All in all it was an amazing weekend!
The trip back was rediculous...one of those all-time european adventures you hear so much about..quick synopsis:
1. we left monterosso at 8 pm in pouring rain.
2. we get harrassed by 2 creepy italian men...(don't worry we had body gaurd jared with us)
3. 2 creepy men followed us off the train and waited for us to get back on our connecting train which was delayed. Here we were also bombarded by crazy Italian men...gross...asking us to stay the night? By this time we were stuffing our extra socks up Jared's sleeves to make him look even more threatening.
4. We show up in Bologna (which we pronounced as the processed meat balogna) thinking we missed our train, but luckily it was delayed 3 hours...so we sat in a crowded room in Bologna, Italy with 3 loudly snoring Italians for 2 hours. Finally we got on our train and ended up in Heidelberg at 5 pm.
A great 20 hours of traveling I must say.

The next weekend a big group of us went to Venice for my friend Anna Debord's birthday! She lived in Abilene until pre-K, and apparently we use to play together when we were little! Venice was incredible! It was exactly as you would picture an Italian city...no cars..just water...and tons of little bridges! Some highlights were seeing the pigeons, actually enjoying a glass of merlot...and then having another haha, the boys surprised us and bought us roses in St. Mark's square all lit up at night with music all around (so cute!), walking around the city, taking water busses, and eating gelato while dangling our feet over the edge of the peer! It was a great trip!

The whole next week was spent in Vienna for our educational field trip. We got to stay at a nice hotel with only one roommate, a sauna, and BATHTUBS! It was great to get to spend 5 days in one place and not feel rushed. Vienna originated the coffee house, and so we went to one at least once a day! They are everywhere, and always full viennese people just hanging out! What a life! The city was gorgeous, and big enough not to get bored..yet easy to get around. I rode on my first subway here! The last night we ended with a Mozart and Strauss symphony! It was so fun! But during the trip I started getting sick..so the flight home was less than fun. I spent all day Sunday resting and sleeping...and then by tuesday everything was good! See mom, I told you I didn't have to go to the doctor haha

This past weekend I went to Prague! Its amazing how different each city is. I went with 3 girls and 2 boys...it was quite the fun group! We stayed in an apartment type place...and when we checked in we decided to take a quick nap...that lasted 3 1/2 hours! Guess we were more tired than we realized! We walked around and saw the Astronomical clock. Its the coolest clock I've ever seen..soo much detail! We found a place to eat...and then we walked around some more. Finally we ended up drinking wine and playing cards back at our apartment. (We have become obsessed with the card game, Bum.) The next day was freezing, but the views were gorgeous--all the greenery was now either orange, red, or yellow! It didn't feel like we were in Czech at all. Luckily most people spoke english...I tried learning some basic phrases on our 10 hour train ride, but the fact that they dont like to put vowels in their words is not for me. Jkdsymgni? I don't think so. We visited the Largest castle in the world, the Prague Castle! It's more like a palace...really the only thing that has spires and is tall is the cathedral. We spent most of our time in the gardens. It had a great view of the whole city of Praha that was full of fall colors. We also went on the Charles bridge...its a huge bridge with lots of statues...very pretty! A major moment on the trip was when we found CHEERIOS in the grocery store! My how excited were we! The box was too big for my backpack so I carried them around proudly in my arms...they were a very sufficient snack for mornings and on the trainride back.

Well, we're caught up! I wanted to post pictures, but for some reason I can't right now. I will try to later! Now, I'm sitting in my room enjoying my fun-fetti haloween cookies that my mom and sister sent to me! This is definitely a highlight of my day seeing as it consisted of a german quiz, a history midterm, and a 3 hour long stats class! I'm about to walk down the hill for dinner, and then I'll struggle to make it back up and study for yet another German quiz. But oh well, this is Europe! The whole house is getting closer...it's amazing how we live in one place. It really is crazy to say goodnight to people everynight, and then goodmorning...we roll out of bed and eat breakfast together not caring what each other looks like...we study together...we have church together...we legitimately live together like a family. It's so hard to describe it, but its amazing how close I feel to everyone! Well, thats all for now. I'll try to post pictures soon! Tschuss!

54 days and still loving every minutee!

Song wars + Autobahn = major bonding...

Yesterday, Wednesday, we took a group excusion to the little town of Trier. Its about a 3 hour drive, so we left pretty early for a very crammed day of sighseeing. We saw St. Paulin church that was not too exciting from the outside, but the inside is probably about 45% gold! It was amazing! We walked around most of the time with one of our professors, Dr. Lerner, who told us the history of everything. In the main square my favorite part was all of the flower vendors! There were flowers of everykind for so cheap, it was so fun to look at all of them! We then went on a tour of the Church of our Lady (a huge huge church...it took us about an hour to get all theway through).
We had a fun day, but then as we got back on the charters to head home we made it about 2 hours and then came to a dead stop. There had been an accident on the Autobahn...so we sat in the exact same spot for 1 1/2 hours. We ended up making the best of it--we split the bus in the center and played a song war game (one side sings part of a song..the other side has to follow with a song from the same artist)..it became so intense! We played this for the whole time we were stopped...and then we decided to have wednesday night worship on the bus. So we sang about 5 songs and finally we started moving! So we were convinced it was our singing that helped us move! haha..whoo knows...but then we ended up singing the whole last hour home. We sang for a total of 2.5 hours straight! It was soo much fun!
The best part was that our German classes were cancelled for this morning because we got back so late! So we got to sleep in--what a blessing! It ended up being a greatt trip!

Now i'm off to the MOVIES! yes, an english movie theater! I dont even know what movie we're seeing, but as long as its in a theater i'm there! I'll post pictures soon!

Pictures!

Our hostel room!
We are all three obsessed with coke. An addiction that is okay because there are no refills!

My NAME! move over Mt. McKinley! (too bad it means cheese...and thats now my new nick name...'cheesy' musgrave..i also get guta, bree, cheese bread, and swiss)

There were cows coming down the steep road up to the Eagle's Nest...apparently just a normal daily routine in the Alps!

MY FIRST TIME TO TOUCH EUROPEAN SNOW! it was exciting...and defenitely not the last time.

The Sound of Music group at a stop that had nothing to do with the movie? but it was gorgeous none the less!

This pic is more for my parents who just thinkk i'm a picky eater:

My new FAVORITE thing in the whole entire world. Apple Strudel! (i had to sneak a picture in the midst of devouring it...it was completely gone in the end)

the hills were alive...

This weekend a group of 9 of us went to Salzburg, Austria! We arrived Friday afternoon, went to the hostel, and then walked around the town. This was my first time to see real European mountains(aka the alps)! Sometimes I talk up mountains so much that I get myself too excited that when I see them i'm not too overwhelmed. Wow. That did not happen this weekend! They were incredible! Some were snowcapped..I was just about in heaven!

Saturday we toured ourselves out. We went on the Eagle's Nest tour in the morning with our tour guide 'beatrice' (crazy lady), and we went on the Sound of Music tour in the afternoon. My favorite part was the fact that our guide, Andrew, talked just like Frank on Father of the Bride. You can only imagine my glow all afternoon: surrounded by mountains...listening to 'frank'...it was brilliant! Bri--I think I saw the lake and village I was so obbsessed with in your pictures of Salzburg! Its so awesome to get to experience something, and then find out that Brianna did the same thing! Ex: I tried my first apple strudle in Mondsee and LOVED it..and brianna ate it too! I love being so easily amazed.

I almost forgot..we ran into some of our friends who are studying in Switzerland at our hostel! It was amazing to be reunited so unexpectedly! We talked and compared experiences as we watched the Sound of Music in our lobby.

Saturday night we walked around the little St. Ruperts Fair that was taking place in the middle of the main square of Salzburg. I ate a HUGE chocolate covered pretzle...mom you would have loved it...sweet and salty! okay so I didn't eat the whole thing...we had some help from the boys. Our group consisted of me, austin, and 7 boys! We didn't plan to be the only girls, but thats just how it ended up. It was so much fun--no drama! We had an amazing weekend!

Life has been extremely crazy this week. Trying to juggle my school work, social life, and me and God time is really hard right now. Living with 47 other friends makes it really hard to find or even want quiet time. I went to Starbucks with all of my roomates today, and we had an amazingg time just talking and letting things out. We decided we're going to get together once a week somewhere outside the house so we can slow down and talk--just the 5 of us. I love these girls to death!

Well I have to go change my sheets for the first time...joy...and then I could possibly be watching Star Trek. joy once again.

We're going on an excursion to Trier tomorrow so we don't have classes! Woo hoo! I'll post pics tomorrow from this past weekend. Tschuss!

pictures!!!!

okay heres a bunchhh of pictures of just random stuff! more to come laterr! They are in opposite order because i dont know what to do. And the entire blogspot world on my computer is in german so i can't figure out how to do much haha..but here they are...sorry if this makes no since 5 people just came and bombarded my room so I can't concentrate...oook enjoy!




The boys playing football at the castle!

Austin and I at our first trip to the castle!

Our group as we toured the gardens at schwetzingen castle.

The Heidelberg Castle!!! Its amazingg!

Me, Danielle, and Natalie...it was freezingg and windy up there...but i loved ittt

On my birthday..we hiked up to the top of a church tower to see this amazing view of our city!

The festival in Ladenburg. It was like a huge flea market...the streets were crammed with vendors.

Our group waiting for our train (the one I got off of by myself) haha

Austin and I in Ladenburg at a festival...eating our first bratwurst! yummmm:)

Me and Danielle eating gelato our first night out! (my first gelato...schokolade..amazing!)

One of the castles we hiked up to! There were kids just playing and having picnics...can you imagine this being your playground?!

This is Chelsea and me after we hiked up to a castle in this small little village on the Neckar river. We took a boatride with the whole group to get there...it was a gorgeous ride!

This is Moore Haus! I know its really dark...i'll try to take a better picture later. Its especially hard to take a picture of it because is on a hill and there are stairs and you can't just look at it straight on. Its absolutely amazing though!

Walking down the Hauptstrasse (main street)! This is street that our classrooms are on. Its a gorgeous walk...about 1 1/2 miles long. Its the most toursity street in Heidelberg...but it remains fairly quiet because Germans aren't loud like us haha.

Okay, i'm trying to get the hang of this..guess i'll just comment above each picture! These are my wonderful roomates in our room! We have the biggest room in the house because we share it with 5 girls.

Austin and I on the bus to Heidelberg...we made ittt after 24 hours of traveling! (literallyy..)

I survived my first 10 days in europe!

I guess I'll start with the bad news. I still can't put pictures up. I mean I could, but I'm just being somewhat lazy haha. No worries. I will start uploading all of them tomorrow! Well, obviously things have been extremely busy over here! I just got back from my first weekend of traveling--we went to Berlin! It didn't have a gorgeous view, but it was full of history and sights that I couldn't go without seeing while in Germany. Okay, so just to update you on the highlights I'll just pin point interesting/favorite things/funny stories.

1. I believe I was the first person out of all 50 to get lost. Yes. On my way back from a festival in Ladenburg (a 20 minute train ride), I was the first of my group of 5 to step off the train to which as I turned around the doors shut and my faithful group was still on the train. I stood and laughed and waved for a minute, until I realized that trains don't usually stop and go in reverse due to the quick shutting of the doors. They have no mercy. So not only was I by myself, it was my first time on a train...3rd day in Europe...there was no building in sight...just tracks and stairs that led up to the streets (none of which looked familiar). As I 'calmly' walked around not having the slightest clue what to do, I found a woman (the only one out to the 10 people roaming around). I asked her in broken german if I was in Heidelberg and she laughed a me and continued to explain that I got off too early. I think she was my angel because she ended up being able to speak english and help me to the Hauptbahnhof where my friends were waiting for me, thankfully!

...and to continue on that note...this weekend on our way to Berlin me and 2 other girls I was traveling with got off at the wrong stop (I'm sensing a pattern here). We didn't even realize it until we were outside looking for the other 10 in our group and saw them through the window of the train freaking out. But we made it to Berlin all the same...and once again we felt more accomplished than if we had just done the right thing! None the less, I've worked myself up a little reputation (I will never be in charge of traveling plans)...and I do pay for these series of unfortunate events often!

2. As different as life is here in Heidelberg, I haven't once been homesick! I feel so at home here...its wonderful! This weekend we referred to coming 'home', and we all got very excited.

3. Bathrooms here are so clean! Its amazing! I'm not sure how I feel about stopping off of I20 to use a gas station bathroom anymore!

4. In restaraunts, the waiters don't bring you the check. You could stay all day, and they will never bother you. You have to ask for it! I didn't realize it at the time, but in america it seems as though as soon as your done eating you leave. Thats not the deal here! (And starbucks actually serves you in real glass coffee mugs rather than togo cups! Who would have thought...sitting down to enjoy your drink!?)

5. This weekend in Berlin I...
...stayed in my first hostel!(not too bad...having boys we knew with us made us feel much safer!)
.....went to 4 museums (the egyption museum where we saw Nofretete-- I have no clue how to spell that...the Pergamon...the Bode...and the Jewish Museum) I probably just butchered all of those names but I experienced them all none the less!
....walked about 20 miles (no joke) all around Berlin
....ordered my first drink haha
...spotted a Scholtzkys from about a mile away and ate an amazing lunch!
...my favorite part was seeing Brandenburg Gate! It was overwhelming! We also saw parts of the Berlin Wall that were still standing. It was amazing to be surrounded by so much history!

6. I've become obbsessed with cokes. I already loved them, but now its a huge treat to get one! Especially cold...and with refills. The only place with ice and refills here is Subway. Its our new favorite hangout...seriously. Two of my friends and I are now known for our obsession with Subway. Simple pleasures!

Okay so thats just an update...i'll try to be a better blogger in the future! I am about to head to bed...we start school in the morning! We're planning our next trip already...Salzburg it is! I will be practicing my singing for the Sound of Music tour all week!! joyyy:) Gutennach!

Ich bin zwanzig jahres alt!

I'm so sorry I've been horrible at posting! I've been completely overwhelmed with moments to write about, but there's no way I could compile all my emotions into words. I'm absolutely LOVVINGG it here in Heidelberg! I live with 4 other amazingg girls in a room that overlooks all of Hberg. It's amazing! It's only been about 4 full days, but I'm already so much better friends with most everyone in the house! I literally showed up at the airport wednesday afternoon not knowing peoples names. It's amazing to see how much we've all grown together already!

Well quick catch up...today's my birthday! (or meine geburtstag!) It's been an amazinggg day! As we all know I'm not into crazy birthday parties and such, so today was just perfect. We had head start german all morning (not the highlight but my professors are so nice and hilarious! german sense of humor really is funny.) Then my group spent the rest of the afternoon touring Heidelberg with my humanities professor. We went to an extremely old Lutheran church and climbed up to the tower where you could see all of Heidlelberg. It was soo cold and windy, but for those who know me thats my kind of weather. I was basically in all of my glory there! We continued touring the restof the afternoon, and then I had to painfully retake my visa pictures for the THIRD time. Luckly they were better (by the way you can't smile which is extremely hard to do when taking a picture) and so thats done with! Then the whole group met at this place called Essig Haus to eat dinner. I got sung to and got to blow out a candle and eat a special dessert! (but I dug to only eat the vanilla ice cream haha surprise surprise!) Then it started POURING rain as we left for our mile hike back to Moore Haus. Of course once again i LOVEd it...I love the rain so it was amazing! Now its about 8 pm, and as we were going to go get gelato our plans have changed due to the weather. So now I'm about to go play poker with some guys and the little boys in our Faculty family. I told one of them, Dom who I think is 7, that I didn't know how to play, and he said 'uhh we'll teach you...duhhh'. So how could I turn that down?! So as I would wish, my birthday was so relaxing and perfect weather and just couldn't have been better! Well i'm off to learn some poker, but I'll hopefully be able to post pictures in a few days...I can't wait! (by the way I just typed this really fast and didn't go back and check it so sorry for the horrible errors that I'm sure are in this!)

It's about that time...

Welp, I leave tomorrow! I've been asked about 500 times if I'm excited about going to Germany, and my response has gone from excited to nervous to 'i'm not quite sure i feel anything right now'! Maybe it's the fact that all my emotions are running together to create a numbness to the whole situation. I'm sure I'll get more feeling as tomorrow passes!

My flight plan is to leave LAX at 5:50 pm...arrive in London at 12:00 pm the 6th...and arrive in Frankfurt at 6 pm. Honestly, I have no idea as to much of what's going on. I don't even know the exact time difference! This whole traveling through different time zones and over different days is a little much for my brain to comprehend at the moment! Don't worry I should snap back into it once I get there, but until then I'll keep following the crowd and, Lord willing, end up in Germany shortly!

Here we go!

Hey everyone! Well, I made it to California after 3 connecting flights...blah. But my friend Dustin picked me up, and getting to ride back and talk with her while driving along hwy 1 made it all worth it! It's been great catching up with friends as well as catching up with familiar tastes (good ole california lemonade, coogies, and my favorite...malibu yogurt!). I'm still a little bit tired, but i'm hoping to be all caught up on sleep before I leave on Wednesday. It was the craziest feeling coming back to campus. It feels like no time has passed at all since April! I'm staying with my friend Dustin (a girl don't worry) who's room has an incredible view looking down on campus and ocean for miles! It was a great homecoming for sure! I'm still feeling somewhat in limbo since I can't really settle in here. I will hopefully post pictures from my few days here soon! Hope everyone has a great Labor day!